Fragrances contained in personal care products or household products not only produce a pleasant smell during their use but also play a role in heightening the functions of these products, for example, comfort and refreshed feeling after shampooing or washing with them. In compounding fragrances, therefore, fragrance compositions which are favored highly and can satisfy the functions of the individual products are created by carefully selecting synthetic fragrances or natural fragrances with a good smell and in addition, by using in combination fragrance compounds showing various behaviors in diffusiveness and substantivity, depending on the using scenes of them.
Since there is an increasing demand for natural-odor rich and long lasting fragrance compounds, novel compounds releasing a woody-amber odor have been searched while paying attention to those having a odor of high quality with softness or warmth typical to natural ambergris, those having a powerful odor and therefore effective even by the addition of a small amount, and those showing high adsorption to clothes or hair and high substantivity. As one example of fragrance compounds with a powerful odor, 1,2,3,4,4a,5,6,7-octahydro-2,5,5-trimethyl-2-naphthalenol can be given. Although the compound gives a odor of animalistic warmth, too intense odor hinders its use for lightly fragranced cosmetics which are applied directly to the skin and in addition, it may impair the odors of other fragrance compounds.
The substantivity of a odor may be enhanced by increasing the molecular weight of a fragrance compound, thereby controlling its volatility. For example, hexahydro-1′, 1′, 5′,5′-tetramethylspiro[1,3-dioxolane-2,8′(5′H)-[2H-2,4a]-methanonaphthalene which is a cyclic isolongifolanone ketal has higher substantivity than isolongifolanone, but an increase in the molecular weight weakens its smell, leading to loss of a woody, soft and natural odor typical to isolongifolanone.
There is accordingly a demand for the development of, as fragrance compounds having a woody-amber odor, natural-odor rich ones having a high quality and producing a long-lasting odor with adequate intensity depending on various product forms or using scenes.
As a result of attention to the steric structure of a decalin skeleton and methyl groups attached thereto and investigation on the synthesis of a decalin alcohol highly substituted with methyl groups, G. Ohloff et al. have reported that 9-nordrimanol having four methyl groups produces an excellent amber odor. Those having at least five methyl groups as substituents or those having an ethyl group introduced therein were however odorless or attracted no attention (Non-patent document 1). For example, 8-drimanol having a steric structure of the following formula (1a) did not become the object of the investigation in the study of G. Ohloff, et al. made on fragrance compounds having a decalin skeleton. Non-patent document 1 does not include a description on the odor of driman-8β-ol but includes only a description that (9βH)-driman-8β-ol different in the steric structure is odorless. None of the above-described compounds has been used in practice as a fragrance because no industrial production process of them has been found as yet.

J. R. Hlubucek found that Nicotiana tabacum L. of Greek tobacco contains the compound represented by the formula (1a) and tried to produce it from drim-7-en-11-ol, but did not describe the odor of such a compound. The importance of the compound as a fragrance has therefore not been known (Non-patent document 2).
C. R. Enzell succeeded in preparing a mixture containing 8-drimanol by bioconversion of (Z)-abienol, but did not describe the compound as a fragrance (Non-patent document 3).
[Non-patent Document 1] Croatica Chemica Acta, 58 (4) p.491 (1985)
[Non-patent Document 2] Acta Chemica Scandinavica B 28 No.3 p.289 (1974)
[Non-patent Document 3] Acta Chemica Scandinavica 49 p.375 (1995)